The Demon Flu
by FoggyMTNtops
Summary: Zelgadis wakes up one morning horribly ill, worrying Lina and the gang. But who shows up and volunteers to nurse him back to health other than Xellos! Surely the trickster beast priest is up to something! ZelgadisxXellos


Second fic in ten years, people! I'm quite proud but surprised that I managed to finish this one- it kept getting longer and longer (still not too long, only 12 pages). I was partially inspired by my own illness after catching a nasty cold while camping, and also inspired by dreamily gazing at some of Eugene Ch's beautiful artwork. Le siighhh~~! Some notes at the end about possibly furthering this story. Any (positive or constructive) feedback is appreciated!

Thanks to my dear beta 4 lyfe tastykate!

* * *

Zelgadis woke up feeling like hell. There was no other way to put it. Muscles aching, sore throat, and a dizzy spell to top it all off. And then he started to cough.

And cough.

And cough.

The fit lasted for what for what felt like a half an hour as it tore at his stomach, and afterwards the poor chimera fell back into bed, overcome with dizziness. What _happened_ to him? He felt fine yesterday! Well, maybe towards bed time he felt the beginnings of a sore throat, but he assumed that was from yelling spells all day as he and the group fought various demons as they wandered aimlessly through the woods as they looked for a gnome, who may or may not exist, who may or may not have the skills to make a belt for Lina to increase her magical powers by 10 fold, and who may or may not know some clues about a cure for Zelgadis's chimeric condition.

Zelgadis sighed. A self-pitying infused sigh.

As he went to rub his eyes before he attempted to get out of bed for the second time, the shaman noticed something black splattered over his palms. His eyes narrowed as he realized it was the same hand he was coughing into a moment ago. He shakily reached up to touch his mouth where, sure enough, some left-over black ooze had taken residence there.

A quick investigation led Zelgadis to believe that it wasn't blood, but he also wasn't quite sure what it was, either. He had never gotten sick since he had been turned into a chimera by Rezo, so he wasn't sure if this was typical of brau demons or golems. Or humans, for that matter.

Deciding to not inform Lina and the gang about this latest development, he quickly washed out his glove in the water basin, yanked up his scarf, pulled his hood as far down as it would go, and headed down to the restaurant area of the inn where everyone was surely into their third or fourth helping of breakfast.

When he got downstairs, Gourry and Lina were fighting over the last drops of syrup for their waffles and pancakes, and Amelia was laughing in a very non-Amelia fashion for having gotten the last sausage link on the table. Another sigh escaped Zelgadis's lips. He sat down, ordered tea, and snagged the last piece of toast. Before he could take a bite, however, another coughing fit seized him, making everyone at the table in breakfast mania stop what they were doing.

Zelgadis snatched a napkin, determined to still hide whatever he was coughing up from his friends, for his haggard, persistent coughing was loud and long enough to concern everyone at the table.

"Woah Zel, you alright?" Lina frowned in a concerned manner, as she simultaneously grabbed the syrup and poured the last of it on her 4th helping of breakfast.

Amelia stood up from her chair, worry etched over every inch of her face. "Zelgadis-san, are you sick?"

Gourry blinked with a slight frown, still poised in midst of what he thought in an epic syrup battle. "I didn't realize chimeras could get sick."

Lina slapped his shoulder, "Of course they can!" and she paused mid-chew. "I think?"

"My, my!" A disconnected voice appeared above them, "It appears our favorite chimera is sick with the demon flu!" Xellos arrived in a swish of black looking mock-concerned with one of his hands on his cheek.

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. Great. This is _exactly_ what he needed.

"Can you tell me your symptoms, Zelgadis-san?"

With that Zelgadis narrowed his eyes in suspicion with a hint of malice. "When did you become so concerning?"

The mazoku sighed, as if he really was slightly exasperated. "I just know that the demon flu can be quite nasty, I imagine especially for someone who's part human. Left untreated, it can leave to permanent lung damage and brain fever in demons. But," he turned on his heel to leave "if you don't need my assistance-"

Lina frantically grabbed his cape with a "Wait a second!" She then turned to Zelgadis and barked, "Just tell him what your symptoms are so we can rule it out!"

A repressed cough escaped Zelgadis as he tried to sigh. "Coughing, muscle aches, sore throat, and dizzy spells from what I can only assume is a fever."

"Are you coughing up demonic bile?" Xellos opened a eye with interest, with his ever-present smirk.

"Demonic wha-?"

"Black phlegm coughed up from the stomach. It should be a little runnier than human blood."

Lina, Amelia, and Gourry stared at him wide-eyed, all looking horribly concerned but interested. Zelgadis shifted his eyes between the three of them shamefully, as he realized, for the umpteenth time, that his part demonic nature separated him from them. He was not human. Ugh. "Yes," he mumbled softly, looking away.

"That settles it!" Xellos clapped his hands together, as if celebrating something. "It's most definitely the demon flu. I'll go run to the apothecary."

Lina's right eyebrow arched incredulously well up into her hairline. "Um, Zel was right- when _did_ you become so altruistic? It's not like you."

"A mazoku of your type should be basking in Zelgadis-san's pain and suffering!" Amelia stood up on her chair and pointed her finger at the trickster priest accusingly. "You are most surely up to something!"

Xellos waved his hands in front of him in a defensive manner, which did little to bring down Amelia's guard for he still had traces of his iconic smile. "Not at all! I simply know the best apothecary around is in this town." His smirk increased as his eyes slit open momentarily, "And I also know I can get the best deal there."

Gourry puckered his lips and furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you get a special friend discount or something?"

Lina bashed him upside the head. "No, jellyfish for brains! He'll probably threaten the guy and get it for free!" Xellos's answer consisted of a shrug.

As everyone argued over his well-being, Zelgadis sank further down into his chair and slowly put his fingers up to his temples. A headache wasn't one of his symptoms, but one was surely forming...

"Well then, I'll be off!" And with that, Xellos disappeared in a flash.

Amelia slowly got down from her chair, shaking her head. "Something about this still doesn't seem right. There's something he's not telling us."

"Xellos is here to watch me suffer in multiple ways." Grumbled Zelgadiss, taking a sip of his now luke-warm tea. "He knows how to press my buttons." He added under his breath, a snarl forming on his lips.

"Hey now!" Lina hopped over to the fuming chimera. "At least he's grabbing something to help your flu!" The red headed sorceress slapped Zel on the arm companionably, sloshing some of his tea. "Once we get your stuff we'll be on our way."

At the apothecary, Xellos appeared in a flash, startling the frizzy-haired woman behind the counter. Her sunken-in green eyes widened as she recognized the type of person who now stood in her shop. "Mazoku!"

"Now, now, no need to jump to conclusions, Apothecary-san." Xellos chuckled, despite having never bothered closing his eyes, revealing his true nature in his purple cat eyes. "I'm just here to pick up an antidote for someone. He has the demon flu."

An interested frown formed on her lips. "Demon flu, ay? That's an easy fix. What type of demon are we talking about here?" Fear seemed to escape her as she realized the type of compensation she would be getting for this mixture. Demon flu antidotes required a lot of rare ingredients, which would increase the price of the end product. Score!

"Ah, he's actually a chimera." Was Xellos's response, and the apothecary almost saw gold rain down from her ceiling. More bits of demon meant more rare ingredients- double score! "He's golem, brau demon, and human."

"Ehhhhh?!" The mid-aged woman slapped her hands down on the counter. "Human?! We've got no time to lose, then!" She set herself right away to dumping ingredients into a large cauldron, stirring intermittently as she talked. "With a nasty bug like that a human, or a demon who's even just part human, could only manage 48 hours! How long has he had it?" She snapped her head in Xellos's direction.

"I believe less than 24 hours."

"Great!" She grabbed some more ingredients and threw them into the large pot, tasted it, made a nasty face, added something else, and blew out the fire below it. "He'll be knocked out cold for about a day after he takes this." She explained, filling up a flask as the mixture glooped and oozed. "During the first two hours he'll be breaking his fever, going from hot to cold. Make sure someone is there to monitor him. After that it's easy peasy and he'll wake up fine." She set the greyish-brownish flask of sludge onto the counter, smiling brightly as she was evidently proud of herself. "Now, for a potion like that, it's gonna be a bit pricey, but worth it."

"Ah, yes, about the payment..." Xellos grinned so widely he almost showed his teeth as a dark aura gathered around him.

Back at the inn Zelgadis was feeling progressively more ill. His coughing had increased in regularity and a feverish flush formed across his cheeks. Amelia sat next to him, biting her nails in agitation as she gazed at him with a worried expression, while Lina and Gourry were trying to encourage him to eat or drink something.

With a flash of black light, Xellos appeared again. "Sorry that took so long everyone!" His hand rubbed the back of his neck. "But here you are, Zelgadis-san!" He sat the nasty looking flask down in front of him on the table.

Zelgadis was skepitcal. Not only did it look suspicious in itself, but coming from Xellos it was even more so. "How do I know that this is the actual antidote?"

"You don't, and me asking you to trust me won't change your mind," Xellos answered, "but I did find out from the apothecary that someone who was even partly human with the demon flu could easily die within 48 hours."

"What?!" Lina screamed at him. She grabbed Xellos by the scruff, throttling him. "We don't need your trickster pranks right now if that's actually the case!"

"I assure you!" Xellos said, his head bouncing around his Lina's shakes. "Zelgadis-san needs to take that antidote soon or he'll suffer the consequences."

Zelgadis stared at the bottle wearily. He honestly did feel like if he didn't do something soon that this illness would have pretty nasty results. The alarming rate at which it progressed was concerning enough, and his symptoms made him nearly incapacitated as he barely had enough energy to lift himself out of his chair at this point.

"Zelgadis-san..." Amelia looked on with worrying eyes as he grabbed the bottle.

He uncorked the top with his thumb, yanked down his mask, grumbled, "Cheers," and tossed back the entire contents of the bottle.

Lina stopped throttling Xellos. Xellos stopped pretending to be fazed by Lina. Amelia sat frozen in her seat. Gourry got distracted by a bird passing by at a near window.

Slowly Zelgadis's stony face went from blank to disgusted. "Oh, gods!" He stared at the bottle in horror. "What was _in_ that?!"

"I honestly have no idea." Was Xellos's response.

Zelgadis's eye twitched, as he quickly rose from his chair, knocking it back.

"You..." He stepped towards Xellos "Bastard..." step "Mazoku..." step "I..." step "Hate..."

And then he stopped as sudden exhausted flashed over his angry features. Not quite to his target Xellos, nor quite near anything else, he started to crumple to the floor. Everyone gasped, not quite quick enough to react in any other way, except for Xellos who appeared in a teleportation flash to catch him with ease.

"Zelgadis-san!"

"Zel!"

"Zel?!"

Everyone rushed towards him in concern. "No need to worry, everyone!" Xellos smiled as he held the chimera, whose eyes were fluttering quickly as he fought consciousness. "I forgot to mention that the apothecary said he would pass out shortly after taking the potion for the 24 hours. I'll take him rooms since he is quite heavy and will be breaking his fever soon." And with that he flashed out of sight.

"What the-" Lina looked very confused. "Why is Xellos so suddenly concerned about Zel?!"

"He is right, Lina. Zel is pretty heavy- remember we used him for an anchor once?" Gourry impressed both Lina and Amelia for remembering such a detail.

"We should check in his room to make sure he's there!" Amelia's proactive decision lead her to run up the inn's staircase.

When they got to Zelgadis's door they swung it open to see their friend in bed with his cloak and boots taken off with Xellos already settled in and drinking tea. He pretended to be partly startled to see them there and then gave them a solitary wave.

"What are you doing, Xellos-san?" Amelia interrogated, noticing that his staff was propped up against the wall and some of the mazoku's own unusual books laid on the bedside table, as if he was planning to stay there for a while.

Xellos casually sipped his tea before answering. "I'm staying here to monitor our dear Zelgadis-san."

"What?!" All the humans screamed.

Xellos visibly frowned as he looked to Zelgadis and looked back at three of them with a reprimanding expression. "My, my," he said quietly, "one wouldn't think that a mazoku would be the best type of company for someone so ill, but it seems like all of his friends are rather inconsiderate of his delicate condition."

Lina looked confused and deflated, Amelia became angrier in her shame, and Gourry, of course, looked a bit befuddled.

"Lina!" Gourry whispered in voice that sounded more like a raspy version of his normal voice, "Why does Xellos want to monitor Zel?"

Flares almost rose up behind the sorcery genius. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be so confused!" She hotly whispered back.

Xellos stood up from his floating seated position and ushered the group out of the room into the hallway, closing the door behind all of them. "Everyone, I know that you must be perplexed, but the fact of the matter is that someone with my strength and my immunity, being a higher-level mazoku, I'm best suited for Zelgadis-san's care."

Not 100% sold, everyone stood there, looking confused and lost at Xellos.

"Plus I know that you were all in the search of a gnome who might be of great use for you, Lina, and for our ill chimera. If you decide to go back on the road and accomplish something in this time, I'll be sure to deliver a healthy Zelgadis-san to the group once he is recuperated."

"How did you know that we were searching for-" but Gourry was cut off by Lina stomping on his foot.

"Alright, Xellos, I get it." said Lina, ignoring Gourry's howls. "I'm not sure what you're getting out of this, except for maybe Zel's feelings of anguish and pain, but he's got a point. There's no use for all of us to stay here while Zel fights this illness if we're exactly where we need to be to find this gnome."

"But-!" Amelia's pleas were also cut off by Lina, this time with a calm hand on her shoulder.

"Zel will be okay." She looked at the princess firmly in the eyes, and then shot daggers at Xellos. "Right, Xellos?"

"Of course!"

Lina smiled a toothy smile of insincerity at Xellos, and then softened her smile when she turned back to Amelia.

Amelia sighed, giving in. "Okay, Lina-san..."

They all turned to leave, but then Lina swirled around to point at an feigning innocent-looking Xellos. "No funny business! Return Zel to us in 24 hours!" And swished herself back around on her heel to join her two comrades.

Xellos chuckled slightly at their disappearing forms, opening his eyes just a sliver. "No guarantees on that, Lina-san." He quietly allowed himself back into Zelgadis's room, and settled into his relaxed position.

The next two hours were exactly as the apothecary described. Zelgadis went through hot and cold flashes as he broke the stubborn fever. Xellos, not really the type for nursing, helped as it was needed, doing the basics like adding a blanket when he started shivering, and throwing it off and slapping on a cold wet towel when he started sweating. He did most of this while still sipping tea and reading, using his powers for the benefits of laziness.

After the two hours, Zelgadis slept like a baby.

A few hours into Zelgadis's restful sleep, Xellos sighed wistfully as he took a break from reading to glance over at the chimera. It was a shame that feverish flush was gone from his face. When he was battling the fever in his sleep, tossing and turning while sweat dripped down his face and a hot red flush graced his cheeks, Xellos was reminded exactly why he had undertaken this monotonous task. At one point, Xellos didn't bother tucking down the shaman's tunic when it rose up about mid-waist during one of these hot flashed, and he therefore thoroughly enjoyed the free show of the chimera's taught muscles and hip bones gyrating as he ravaged the bedsheets and his own clothes in a slow, sleepy, feverish manner. Truth be told, it was all quite hot.

But now Zelgadis was vaguely boring with his stationary deep sleep and his tunic now somehow tucked back down into place.

Time passed and slowly Zelgadis started to make movements, stirring from his day-long sleep. Xellos closed his book quietly, breathing in the air as he smiled maniacally to himself, getting ready for what Zelgadis's inevitable freak out. He watched as the cerulean blue eyes crept open and focused on his surroundings. It was kind of nice, Xellos contemplated, seeing a completely disarmed Zelgadis for these brief seconds. He hoped to see more of this side of the chimera in the future.

As predicted, once Zelgadis saw Xellos sitting alone in his room, his eyes narrowed menacingly; malice, confusion, and shame emanated from him, giving the mazoku the buffet he was expecting. It was nearly exquisite.

"You." Was the only horse response that Zelgadis could make, but the hatred dripping from the one syllable seemed to be sufficient enough.

"Ah, Zelgadis-san! So glad to see you've awakened! I ordered some food-" a knock on the door signified some pretty damn good timing on the inn's staff's part "to hopefully recuperate you a little further." Xellos answered the door then brought back what looked like soup, tea, and some bread and set it beside the bed.

Oh, the expression on Zelgadis's face was priceless. The pure confusion and shock almost brought Xellos into peals of laughter, but he took a moment to compose himself as to slowly build up this wonderful moment. He sat down again and brought out the last book he had with him, and made an encouraging motion with his hand. "Eat now! It's not anything fancy, but I figured you probably want something bland after being so ill. I feel like I heard that somewhere..." he trailed off contemplatively, shrugged, and returned to his reading, while watching the shaman out of the corner of his eyes.

Oh, this was good. Zelgadis now had his mouth slightly open from his sense of bewilderedness as he searched Xellos's features for some type of answer. "Why...?"

"Hm?" Innocence oozed from Xellos's face.

"Why are you doing this? Where is everyone-"

"Oh, Lina-san and the others went to look for that illusive gnome again. I told her once you were well again I'd take you to them. It's not hard to find her with that path of destruction that she leaves behind." Xellos had to restrain himself from smiling too much again. Really, as well orchestrated this was just to try and get in the chimera's pants, he should be given an award for all of this.

"But-" Zelgadis cleared his throat, "you still didn't answer my first question. Why? Why are _you_ here?"

"I volunteered," was the nonchalant reply.

Zelgadis visibly blanched. "What?!"

Xellos could play this game. "I volunteered! I told Lina-san and the others that I would stay as they went ahead. Now, you should really eat something soon if you want to be able to get up any time soon." He returned his focus to his forgotten book, and pretended to be immersed in it.

Still incredulous, but realizing he was quite hungry, Zelgadis sighed a very confused sigh of resignation. He put on whatever outer layer of clothing that draped beside the bed and started to eat. He would never get a straight answer out of Xellos.

Half-way through the bowl of soup, Xellos broke the silence. "There is another reason why I volunteered."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. Here we go. "Hm? What's that." Totally uninterested in whatever shenanigans Xellos was about to pull.

Xellos snapped his book shut, crossed his legs, and looked directly at Zelgadis with open, predatory eyes. "You're a smart man, Zelgadis-san. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I know that you want to bed me in the same way that I want to bed you, so let's make an arrangement."

All of the luncheon china came crashing to the floor as a flustered and angry, oh, so angry chimera jumped to his feet. "What the hell did you just say?!" He looked around desperately for his sword.

It was Xellos's turn to gaze up to the ceiling in exasperation. "There's no need to put on an act here, Zelgadis-san. I can read most of your emotions and know that you would be lying if you said you didn't feel lust and desire towards me."

Finding his sword, Zelgadis unsheathed it and pointed it at Xellos. "Say that again," he threatened.

Xellos's smirk twitched and he reappeared in front of Zelgadis, inches from his face. "You want me."

Zelgadis's eyes were wide with surprise and his breathing shook a bit with the sudden proximity of the mazoku, whose curious purple eyes bore into his own.

"You want me in a way that you would never want to admit to yourself, even if the opportunity presented itself, as it is right now." Xellos took a hold of Zelgadis's chin and stroked a small portion of the stone skin with one of his fingers. Zelgadis's sword fell to the floor with a clang.

Zelgadis barely registered his absent sword as his mind reeled with trepidation. When did he give himself away? How was he that obvious? Did anyone else notice? Only in his wildest, most secret fantasies did Zelgadis imagine something like this would happen. Xellos's hand on his chin felt like a tingling burning and his gaze refused to linger from Zelgadis's wide-eyed look.

"And besides, Zelgadis-san, when was the last time you allowed yourself something you desired?" The purple haired mazoku was somehow inching his way even closer to Zelgadis.

"I-"

Xellos cut off his reply with a searing kiss. Somewhere in back of his throat Zelgadis made a small, pathetic sound and Xellos slowly grazed a tantalizing hand beside his neck and jaw to the back of his head. Such intimacy, such lust was almost too much for Zelgadis as he moaned breathily and grasped at Xellos's shoulders. The mazoku smirked into the kiss as he heard Zelgadis's response and replied by deepening to kiss confidently and pressed their two bodies together. He felt the chimera's heart beating rapidly like prey caught in the predator's trap, which caused him to chuckle as he danced his tongue around Zelgadis's. Xellos arched his pelvis forward just ever so slightly, and when both of their arousals touched one another through the layers of cloth, Zelgadis's eyes rolled in back of his head and Xellos nipped at his lips.

But then he pulled away slowly and stared directly back at Zelgadis, almost touching noses. His partner's face flushed handsomely as he drew in shaky breaths to steady himself. Xellos mused at how easily he lost his composure, which gave rise to another chuckle. "So do we have an agreement?"

Without any hesitation, a strangled "Okay," was Zelgadis's response.

Xellos's purple eyes widened amusingly as his smile took on a new form. "My, my, you are quite the eager man! I appreciate your efficiency."

Zelgadis stepped back and glared at the mazoku teasing him; now feeling slightly shamed about his quick response. But what else could he have done after a kiss like that? Not knowing quite what to say with all of his mixed emotions, he stayed quiet.

"And now here comes the paper work!" Xellos announced, just as some parchment appeared in his hand with a quill in the other. "This is the mazoku contract that will need both of our signatures."

Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "Why so formal? I was under the impression we were just consenting to a sexual relationship." He muttered the last two words, flushing embarrassingly.

"If we're entering an intimate relationship there are certain things that need to be covered. Once you read it, you'll understand why I'm taking these precautions." Xellos handed the contract to Zelgadis for inspection.

Upon reading, it appeared to be pretty straight-forward. The contract laid out that whatever is said or done during their meetings could not be repeated to anyone, to safe guard both of them equally. It also explicitly stated that their relationship must remain more or less secretive, except that the Beast Master Zelas would know, unless both parties agreed to tell select few. Zelgadis reasoned that these seemed to be reasonable terms, considering that a lot of people probably wanted Xellos dead or revenge on Xellos, and could possibly use Zelgadis as an in, even if their relationship was only physical. The contract also stipulated that Zelgadis must never ask or expect any inside information about the mazoku race, and should expect a visit from the Beast Master Zelas at some point in the future.

Zelgadis blinked. "A visit from Beast Master Zelas?"

"Oh, that!" Xellos laughed breezily. "Zelas-sama was there when I drafted the contract, and her interest was thoroughly piqued that I intended to make a chimera my lover."

Zelgadis flushed, and then it finally hit him- "What a second! When did you draft this?! How long have you been planning this?!"

Xellos bit his smirking lips, paused for a second, and then raised a single finger. "That's a secret!"

Zelgadis nearly fell out of his chair and then fumed silently for a minute. He was going to have to get used to that damn annoying phrase.

"You get flustered so easily." Xellos mused with one eye lazily half-open, and then presented the quill to him as an invitation. Zelgadis wasn't quite sure how he managed, but he even made the simple passing of a pen seem suggestive.

Zelgadis sighed and looked down at the contract, back at the pen, and then down at the contract again. He sighed again and snatched the pen from Xellos without looking at him. With his face blushing to his hairline, he signed the contract. Xellos stepped over to Zelgadis's seated form, slowly and deliberately transferred the quill to his own hand, and signed his name. The scroll rolled up and vanished instantly.

Xellos bent down and put his mouth up against the chimera's pointed ear. "Now that the formalities are over, let's have some fun, Zelgadis-san."

He nibbled and licked his way down to his neck, where he nipped and playfully sucked at the collarbone of his stone blue skin. Zelgadis arched his head to give him easier access, and reached up his hand to run his fingers through Xellos's purple hair. Xellos, enjoying the chimera's tug of his hair, took Zelgadis's chin again and urged it towards his lips, inviting another kiss.

As they kissed Xellos's hands trailed eagerly down Zelgadis's torso, slowly molding their way to his chest and waist. Zelgadis's breath hitched as Xellos's fingers trailed along his waistband, walking along the sensitive hip and lower abdomen muscles. As his suddenly ungloved fingers slowly made their way south underneath his pants, Zelgadis's hand grasped at Xellos's hair in anticipation. The teasing was making him cross-eyed and he bucked his hips upward encouragingly, grunting into his partner's mouth. Xellos's lips smirked against Zelgadis's as he gripped his partner's erection firmly.

Zelgadis broke the kiss to give a solitary "Ahh!"

Xellos chuckled excitedly. "Oh ho, that sound was better than I ever could have hoped."

The chimera panted ragged breaths as Xellos slowly pumped him. Zelgadis stared up at the ceiling trying to will himself not to orgasm right away, but fighting a losing battle. It had been long, so long since anyone, including himself, had touched him like this.

"That's right, Zelgadis," whispered Xellos into his ear, "Come for me all over my hand."

That was too much for Zelgadis. "Nnnghahh!" Zelgadis, back arched up off of the seat, gripping the arm chair and grabbing onto Xellos's hair, did exactly what Xellos asked him to.

Xellos stood up to clean off his hand and admired his new lover: eyes glazed and panting with his mouth slightly open in the chair with a charming flush on his face. Unlike the previous rouges he had observed from the shaman in the last 24 hours, this was by far his favorite. "My, you're a sight."

Unable and not wanting to move any body parts just yet, Zelgadis looked up at Xellos with his eyes and smirked with a scoffing chuckle. "So are you."

Then Xellos shifted the atmosphere. "Alright, time for us to head out!" He announced cheerfully, disturbing Zelgadis's relaxed form. "We'll have to finish this rendezvous this another time."

Zelgadis frowned at nothing in particular. "Are Lina and the others waiting for me?" He stood up and straightened his clothes and then pinched his nose. He'd rather be relaxing and soaking in all of this new information right now instead of hearing her chaotic shrills.

"Yes, and everyone is getting pretty worried about you and angry at me." Xellos chuckled to himself. So predictable.

Zelgadis picked up his few affects around the room and then turned to Xellos. "I suppose it's time to get going, then."

Xellos walked towards him and looked at the young man. "We won't be walking there, Zelgadis." This time Zelgadis noticed the lack of the honorific. Flustered at the lack of formalities (and adding it to the pile of oxymorons about this entire encounter), he looked at Xellos curiously who reached down to hold his wrist. Xellos's eyes appeared again as he smirked. "Hold tight," and kissed him deeply as they teleported through space.

Suddenly Xellos's lips and body were nowhere to be found as his feet touched grass. "Ah, so sorry everyone we took so long!" came the priest's taunting tenor from beside him. He looked up and saw that he casually sat cross-legged in the air with a sheepish shrug on his shoulders.

"Xellos! You said you would be 24 hours! It's hours past that time!" Lina shrieked at him as Amelia ran over to Zelgadis's side to make sure he was okay. Oh man, this is going to be weird.

Xellos innocently put a finger to his chin and gazed towards the sky, as if in thought. "Is it?"

"Yes!" The two women yelled at him.

Another shrug. "My sincerest apologies everyone, but Zelgadis-san decided to sleep in and one mustn't disturb a sleeping chimera."

Zelgadis looked at him incredulously.

Amelia clasped her hands together, slight tears of gratitude forming in her eyes. "Late or not, I'm just glad to see you're all right, Zelgadis-san! You scared us, being so sick!"

Zelgadis's mouth twitched. "Ah, sorry. But I feel much better now." In more ways than one, but he wasn't about to say that.

Gourry walked over to him and clasped him on the shoulder. "Glad to see ya back, Zel!" He smiled broadly.

"Honestly!" Lina breathed out a sigh of relief, seeing her friend's face. "Not having you here in this demon infested woods was tough. I practically did all the work, and only to find out that the gnome doesn't exist!" She grinned and winked at him playfully.

"That's not true, Lina!"

"You're so mean, Lina-san!"

Zelgadis ignored his friends' complaints. "The gnome isn't real? I thought the sources we heard that from were fairly credible."

Lina placed a hand on her hip and scratched her nose. "Yeah, me too. But it was as if once we left without you, we didn't encounter one demon, troll, or human who had ever heard of the magical gnome." She narrowed her eyes. "It's almost as if someone made him up..."

Zelgadis swirled to glare at Xellos, to find him gone. "Wh-what?" Surprise quickly switched to flustered anger. "Damn you, Xellos!"

Lina sighed again. "Oh man, I wonder if Xellos did have anything to do with it. But then, to what end?"

As best as he could, Zelgadis stifled a blush, stared at the ground and thought of something horribly unsexy, like Prince Phil. "Oh well! I'll just fire ball his ass next time I see him!" Zelgadis visibly relaxed.

"Let's head to the next town, Robliwingu!" Amelia suggested, full of life again.

"Robliwingu?! Aren't they known for their stuffed cabbage?!" Gourry was already salivating.

Lina rolled up her sleeves. "Right! I'm going to order ten orders of the stuffed cabbage! All of this anger has left me starving!" Foodie passion was burning in her eyes as she set off running, full-force with Amelia and Gourry trailing not too far behind.

Zelgadis rolled his eyes and walked behind his three friends, taking his time to relax and soak in all of how his situation had completely changed because of one sexy trickster priest.

* * *

I feel like I get gold star of the day for NOT quoting the Fresh Prince of Bel Air in that last sentence...

So about furthering this: In my head this would be an episodic, 3 or 4 chapters total type of fic. Naturally, I'm not going to continue this if there isn't a cry for it (and keep all of those juicy bits inside my head mwhaha), but if there *is* some desire to continue this, then I'll start typing away!


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